The Mundane Details
by waiting4morning
Summary: Fifty sentences about Tali and Kal'Reegar and the bumpy road of their relationship. Written for the 1sentence LJ community challenge.


From the 1sentence LJ community. Theme set Gamma.

Not in any chronological order.

* * *

**#01 - Ring**

Tali didn't know what Kaidan Alenko meant by a "ring" but by the expression on Commander Shepard's face, it was either a weapon of mass destruction, or possibly the best thing in the universe.

**#02 - Hero**

It was Commander Shepard who had destroyed the Colossus, but Tali knew that if it hadn't been for Kal, she would have been dead long before the Normandy ever arrived.

**#03 - Memory**

She had probably forgotten, but Kal would never forget the first time he saw her, a slip of a girl set to go off on her Pilgrimage and the odd desire to go with her, to follow her anywhere.

**#04 - Box**

Kal'Reegar didn't have the heart to tell Tali after he opened the gift that he wasn't nearly as excited about new omni-tools as she was.

**#05 - Run**

Tali wouldn't have said that she had fallen into love, it was more like she'd run headfirst into it and cracked her skull open.

**#06 - Hurricane**

He was so calm and centered in his professional life, Tali never would have guessed that being the object of his affections would be like getting caught in a hurricane.

**#07 - Wings**

Not many aliens knew what quarians looked like beneath their suits, but Tali found the idle speculations of the two Cerberus engineers to be downright ridiculous.

**#08 - Cold**

When she stared at him like that, even through her mask, Kal wouldn't have been surprised to see icicles form on his suit.

**#09 - Red**

Her friends assume her favorite color is purple because of her enviro-suit, but the truth is the crimson shade of his armor is the one she likes the most.

**#10 - Drink**

Sometimes she envied the ability of other species to casually imbibe fermented liquids with no preparation, no plugging of tubes into ports and the things that comprised the mundane details of her day.

**#11 - Midnight**

In the days on Haestrom before the geth arrived, Kal was the only one able to keep watch with her even as she stayed up late into the night to work.

**#12 - Temptation**

She wanted so badly to take off her helmet and see him with her own eyes unfiltered that it was like a physical ache.

**#13 - View**

Tali couldn't stop the splutter of embarrassment when Commander Shepard caught her staring at Kal and asked her in a teasing voice if she was "enjoying the view."

**#14 - Music**

Of all things, Tali never expected for her and Legion to share an interest in the music of her ancestors.

**#15 - Silk**

When Shepard, Kasumi, and Gabby insist on throwing a bachelorette party, it's all Tali can do not to run out of the room as they laughingly give her skimpy silk garments designed to show more than hide.

**#16 - Cover**

Kal'Reegar lets loose a burst of suppressing fire with his assault rife, not daring to look to see if Tali made it to the observatory, hoping beyond hope that his limited strength would be enough to protect her.

**#17 - Promise**

Kal'Reegar's fingers wrap around hers, stilling the trembling, as he says, "I give you my word, ma'am, that those geth won't break through."

**#18 - Dream**

One night aboard the Normandy, Tali awoke with tears on her face: this time it wasn't only her standing unmasked on the homeworld, but him as well.

**#19 - Candle**

Open flames on any ship in the Flotilla is forbidden, so Kal is understandably nervous when Tali lights the ancient candle in the dim, crumbling room, all for the purpose of limiting their electronic footprints so the geth won't find them.

**#20 - Talent**

Tali was never more surprised in her life when at a quiet moment on Haestrom, Kal brought out a guitar and began strumming a quiet song.

**#21 - Silence**

To most of the young quarians aboard the _Neema_, Tali was something of a hero and they all wanted to hear stories of her adventures, but Kal was one of the few who could sit with her in silence and be completely content.

**#22 - Journey**

When she returns to the Flotilla after passing through the Omega-4 relay, she thinks to herself that this walk across the courtyard to Kal's stiff figure was taking so long that the Reapers would be there before she reached him.

**#23 - Fire**

They were both timid and somewhat shy, this first time with both their faces bare, but then Kal moved to brush his hand down her arm, leaving a trail of heat that burned away any lingering hesitation.

**#24 - Strength**

She would never tell Kal'Reegar that it was the sight of his straight back and set shoulders that gave her the courage to keep going on Haestrom.

**#25 - Mask**

When Kal shoots off a sharp salute and one of his inevitable "ma'am's," she realizes that more than just suits and faceplates separate them

**#26 - Ice**

A chill colder than the darkest of space runs through her veins when she doesn't see Kal'Reegar's familiar broad shoulders coming into the room behind Commander Shepard.

**#27 - Fall**

Kal'Reegar reeled back as a geth slug ripped through his kinetic barriers and slammed into his side, making him pray to any ancestor that might be listening to keep him alive just a few minutes more so that Tali could get to safety.

**#28 - Forgotten**

Debrief over, Kal sits alone in the courtyard, feeling the empty pit in his stomach grow—his whole unit is dead and he is the only one that seems to remember that.

**#29 - Dance**

When he looked back, Kal realized that he'd first started falling in love when he saw her dance around the tech lab, completely oblivious to anyone and anything but her own joy.

**#30 - Body**

There was one frantic point on Haestrom when they were both running and then Kal was on top of her, pinning her down as a rocket zoomed overhead, and as they regained her feet it wasn't fear that made her quiver, but the warmth of his closeness.

**#31 - Sacred**

When they stepped out on Haestrom, seeing quarian architecture for the first time in their lives, Tali was grateful when Kal stopped the others from chatting and breaking the almost holy silence of the place.

**#32 - Farewells**

Kal'Reegar is the last one to say goodbye as she and Shepard leave the Flotilla, and Tali wonders if he purposely stayed behind to get a private moment with her.

**#33 - World**

Kal's fingers tighten around hers as they stop down from the landing ramp onto soft grass and Legion turns to say, "Welcome home."

**#34 - Formal**

He never did quite get over his habit of calling her "ma'am," but she found it hard to be irritated when he looked at her like that.

**#35 - Fever**

She had a high temperature and sometime earlier that day she'd had to engage her suit's friction activators to relieve the itch of a crop of hives, but as she looked over across the medbay to meet Kal's eyes, she knew it had been worth it.

**#36 - Laugh**

He likes her laughter the best, making him forget a whole day's worth of troubles and anxieties.

**#37 - Lies**

It isn't so much the falsehoods about her bringing active geth back to the Flotilla that bothered her, but the absolute venom that underlay each word.

**#38 - Forever**

Quarians believe in one mate for life, otherwise the risk of accidental incest is too great in such a small population, so when Kal asks her if she's sure, she knows that he too is thinking of the rest of their lives.

**#39 - Overwhelmed**

Kal'Reegar knew that she'd been holding back, restraining her true emotions until they could get to the privacy of their quarters, but even he was unprepared for the way she jumped him and began frantically popping all the releases on his armor.

**#40 - Whisper**

Sometimes the feeling of his protection was so strong, she felt that even on the _Normandy_, all she had to do was whisper his name and he'd be there.

**#41 - Wait**

Sexual intimacy between quarians takes much preparation and planning, but for now Tali is content to wait, knowing that he feels the way that she does and when the time is right, they will have all the time in the world.

**#42 - Talk**

Kal'Reegar has never been one for gossip, but he has a hard time suppressing the surge of jealousy when he overhears casual conversation wondering about the exact nature of the relationship between Tali'Zorah and Commander Shepard.

**#43 - Search**

When she steps back onto the _Rayya_, an accused traitor, she feels strangely serene, not from the reassurances of her Auntie Raan, but when she finally sees Kal's calm luminescent eyes gazing at her over the crowd.

**#44 - Hope**

Despair had a sour taste, Kal decided as his last assault rifle gave in to Haestrom's sun; he would die and so would Tali for this data—wait a minute, was that a voice on the radio?

**#45 - Eclipse**

After the trial, Kal'Reegar watches Tali leave the Flotilla with an indefinable surge of emotion in his gut when he realizes just how much she has come to depend on Captain Shepard.

**#46 - Gravity**

Tali finds it hard to be irritated at whatever malfunction turned off the gravity in the _Neema_ when Kal uses the opportunity to float to her quarters, ostensibly to see if she is okay.

**#47 - Highway**

The concept of getting to one place quickly has no meaning on a crowded quarian ship, but as his mouth eagerly tastes her skin, her lips, her neck, she wonders if the road to get to this moment was just as efficient.

**#48 - Unknown**

It strikes her as odd one day when she realizes how much she feels for one red-armored quarian, and she doesn't even know what he looks like.

**#49 - Lock**

Sometimes he wondered if Tali'Zorah the slayer of geth kept her heart sealed up behind her faceplate and enviro-suit, never to be given to anyone but whatever cause she was interested in.

**#50 - Breathe**

The first time she inhaled the open air without filters or a mask nearly made her double over with sneezing, but it was worth it.


End file.
